A vast lateral apartment in a Mayfair building on the corner of Old Park Lane and Piccadilly with a remarkable back story taking in the Elgin Marbles, Queen Victoria and Paul McCartney, has gone on sale for £26.25 million.
The four bedroom residence at 149 Old Park Lane occupies the entire fourth floor of an Edwardian block overlooking Green Park.
The 5,222 sq ft home has been the subject of a huge transformation by investors London based Fairway Capital and Saudi owned DAR Capital with developers Leconfield Property Group and for sale through The Family Office, UK Sotheby’s International Realty.
The Grade II listed building stands on the site of one of Mayfair’s earliest private mansions Gloucester House, built in the 1760s for the Bruce family.
It was here in the early 1800s that Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, put the Elgin marbles on display for the first time. Thomas planned to turn the property into a private museum, before the marbles and their ownership were transferred to the British Museum in 1816.
Between 1816 to 1904 the mansion served as a private palace for members of the British Royal family including Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, a cousin of Queen Victoria and the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Here Prince George hosted Queen Victoria, Prime Minister William Gladstone and Field Marshall Haig.
After the Duke’s death in 1904 the building was demolished was replaced by a seven-storey Art Nouveau and classical style apartment building designed by Savoy Hotel architect Thomas Edward Colcutt and his partner Stanley Hamp.
The glass canopied entrance on the ground floor gives access to the hotel-style marble floored lobby with a trompe-l’oeil ceiling featuring a cupola skylight, passenger lift and 24-hour porterage and concierge services and above a collection of grand Parisian style lateral apartments with palatial interiors, one per floor.
Between 1906 and 1971 149 Old Park Lane served as the Mayfair headquarters of Rolls Royce motorcars, with a show room on the ground floor and the apartments above used as entertaining rooms and pied-a-terres for the Rolls Royce directors.
In 1971 the former show room became the venue for the first Hard Rock Café in London where the first live performance was by Paul McCartney with his new band Wings in March 1973.
The fourth floor apartment has ceiling heights of 4.3 metres crystal chandeliers, original marble fireplaces, and panelled walls and tall doors
The grand reception hall has marble flooring and a grand piano and leads to the three adjoining reception rooms which have parquet flooring with marquetry border.
The main drawing room is designed as two living spaces, with a large bay window overlooking Green Park. The drawing room interconnects with an adjoining formal dining room creating a vast entertaining space that can accommodate up to 100 guests.
The drawing room leads into the family kitchen and informal breakfast room. Next to the family kitchen is a separate professional chef’s kitchen.
The principal bedroom has a large main bedroom with day area with sofa, a walk-in dressing room and a main marble bathroom with freestanding bathtub and separate walk-in marble shower.
There is also a separate staff apartment with its own independent access.
Marcus O’Brien, Founder of The Family Office at United Kingdom Sotheby’s International Realty says: “This magnificent apartment at 149 Old Park Lane has an illustrious history, that includes Royalty, the Elgin marbles and Rolls Royce motorcars.
With exceptional palatial interiors, this grand apartment is one of the largest laterals in the local area, newly redeveloped to the highest standards by Leconfield Property Group, offering the finest new lateral residence available to purchase in Mayfair.”
George Brooksbank, CEO of Fairway Capital says: “149 Old Park Lane is symbolic of the type of residence that combines significant history and an unrivalled address that Fairway Capital choose to fund and Leconfield Property Group excel at transforming into a unique trophy home. Providing a balance between traditional and contemporary living, the apartment building was originally inspired by the lavish Savoy Hotel so Leconfield Property Group have sought to retain and restore original features whilst incorporating the latest technology and bespoke design contemporary furniture.
“Mayfair is one of London’s most sought-after addresses so we wanted to deliver a residence that was best-in-class and a level above the rest in terms of specification and high quality interiors.”
Marcus O’Brien added: “This exceptional lateral apartment at 149 Old Park Lane is exactly the type of residence that wealthy buyers are wanting in Mayfair. It has the size and dimensions of a grand house, but has the living accommodation all on one floor. In 2023 almost £530 million worth of homes were sold in Mayfair and over 70% of the homes valued above £10 million that were sold were large lateral apartments.
“In 2023, for apartments sold in Mayfair that were priced above £15 million the average size was almost 4,900 sqft, so at 5,222 sqft the residence at 149 Old Park Lane is perfectly aligned with the dimensions that buyers are looking for.
“At present the luxury apartment market in Mayfair is being driven by wealthy purchasers from just eight countries - the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, India, Saudi Arabia, India, UK and Pakistan – so we will use our domestic and global network to reach buyers in these locations.”
